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View all search resultsLola Amaria: Her other, lighter side
(A Courtesy of Saras/Sendie Nurseptara0Actress and filmmaker Lola Amaria doesnât think twice about putting the voices of the restrained into the spotlight
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(A Courtesy of Saras/Sendie Nurseptara0
Actress and filmmaker Lola Amaria doesn't think twice about putting the voices of the restrained into
the spotlight.
Her latest works touch on issues that rarely hit the country's big screens, from the captivating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) theme in the omnibus Sanubari Jakarta (Heartbeat of Jakarta) to the bittersweet life of Indonesian migrant workers in the 2010 drama Minggu Pagi di Victoria Park (Sunday Morning at Victoria Park).
Her past works also focused on the struggles of women from a range of different backgrounds ' from a courtesan, nurse, rape victim, stripper to a mentally ill woman.
In latest film, Kisah 3 Titik (The Story of 3 Titik's) is no different. It is a drama that centers on the lives of three people named Titik. The first Titik is a worker who becomes the victim of a system, the second is a manager of a company that exists in the system and the third is a worker who wants to get out of the system.
'The LGBT community and domestic workers are always being sidelined while they are just the same as others. Why are they experiencing this? My films are for them,' said the fan of veteran directors Teguh Karya and Syumandjaya.
Born in Jakarta on July 30, 1977, Lola once wanted to be a diplomat but she then found her place in the entertainment world as the 1997 winner of Wajah Femina, an annual beauty pageant held by Femina women's magazine.
She launched her acting career in 1998 through her role as Sila, a stripper, in Nan Triveni Achnas' TV movie Penari (Dancer). After five television roles, she turned to the big screen.
In her first feature film role in Tabir (Curtain) back in 2000, she played one of the victims of the 1998 mass rape in Jakarta. After three years of production, the project was abandoned. In the same year, she starred in Japanese film Dokuritsu, in which she played a nurse struggling between loyalty to her homeland and the Japanese colonial government.
A year later, she played a psychopathic girl in Beth, the title character in an art house movie that the censorship board banned from general cinema release.
Her biggest acclaim came through her role as Tinung, the wife of a Chinese trader, in Nia Dinata's award-winning 2002 film Ca Bau Kan, an adaptation of Remy Sylado's best-selling novel. The role demanded her to learn the Betawi language as well as Chinese dance, culture and history.
Her first foray into producing came with Novel Tanpa Huruf R (Novel without the Letter R), in which she also played the lead role. In the same year, she directed Betina (Female), which won her a Netpac Award at the 2006 Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival. Betina was also screened at the Singapore International Film Festival.
Her film career, however, did not make her mother happy at first.
'My mom shunned me at first for having a film career and then I studied film seriously,' Lola recalled during the interview, just before taking off to several countries in Europe to showcase Kisah 3 Titik.
'But she's always the first person to watch my films.'
She smiled when recalling her mother's fears about the film industry's reputation.
'My mother did not try to stop me when I tried desperately to produce Betina,' said Lola, who also starred in the film.
'When the film was first screened, like other viewers, my mother and my family did not understand it, asking, 'What is film is this about? Why are you spending money and time to produce film?' I just laughed.'
Although she doesn't live with her mother anymore, whenever she is not working on a film, the third of nine siblings spends her spare time with her family.
Together with her mother and sisters, they usually go to traditional markets and buy snacks at their favorite vendors before retreating back home to cook and eat.
Lola said that she loves to cook, something she learned while studying in Australia on a scholarship.
With her little allowance back then, she and her friends used to buy ingredients at the market and cook together ' cheaper than dining out.
'I lived with friends from Thailand and other countries who were good cooks. During that time, I learned from them and I brought the cooking habit back home,' said the ramen noodle lover.
Regarding her late father, she described him as her partner in crime. Lola said they were close and he often scolded her, but they could also talk about lots of different things.
'When I was a teenager, I didn't understand what my father meant, but after he had passed away, I began to understand just how important the things he told me were,' Lola says.
She recalled when her father once came over to her house at midnight and said he wanted to stay the night at her place. But that night, he did not sleep. He complained of mosquitoes and asked her to prepare food and beverages instead. They did not sleep until 8 a.m. and then he left.
'A week after that, he passed away when I was shooting a film in Yogyakarta,' Lola says.
'I remember him telling me to never feel satisfied and to never believe that everything I ever got was the result of my own efforts. Many other people also contributed. It's our duty to only work and give. Awards, praises and critics are all part of the process.'
Now in her 30s, despite her achievements, her single status is something that her mother wants her to change.
Lola recalled that at the age of 24, she assumed that marriage was like a dead end.
'Many of my friends had good careers and sweet love stories, but at the end 'died' when they got married,' she says.
Her views on marriage, however, have changed a bit ' it's a concept that she says she is willing to embrace when she meets the right person, at the right time, who shares a similar dream with her.
'If people think I'm too picky, I say, what's wrong with that? We even choose what we're going to eat, is it wrong to be picky when choosing your life-long partner?'
Lola says she has never regretted any decision that she has made in her life.
'I would make the same decisions all over again if I were reborn. I was not allowed to study film but I learned from the interesting process and met good people. I had a serious relationship once but it did not work out, even that I don't even regret,' she says.
'There are many colors in life; they make my life rich and beautiful.'
